General Legal English

Module- 1
Functional Grammar: Patterns and Usage

Lecture- 2

Topic

Tenses
Study the following sentences:
i) Vignesh writes a letter to his father.
ii) Vignesh wrote the letter to his father yesterday.
iii) Vignesh will write another letter to his father tomorrow.

In sentence 1, the verb write refers to present time.

In sentence 2, the verb wrote refers to past time.
In sentence 3, the verb will write refers to future time.

Definition: Tenses are forms of a verb that show the time, continuance
or completion of an action or a state that is expressed in connection
with the moment at which a statement is made about it. The following
tenses are commonly used:

1. PRESENT TENSES:
Simple Present Tense
Present continuous Tense
Present Perfect Tense
Present Perfect Continuous Tense

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 2. PAST TENSES:
Simple Past Tense
Past Continuous Tense
Past Perfect Tense
Past Perfect Continuous Tense

3. FUTURE TENSES:
Simple Future Tense
Future Continuous Tense
Future Perfect Tense
Future Perfect Continuous Tense

Verb

Effective English language communication usually requires that each

sentence contain a subject and a verb. The subject is sometimes
defined as a person, a place, or a thing. The verb conveys an
understanding of the action expressed, or it conveys the state of the
subject.

Action and State

Tom hit the ball.

The verb is hit. Tom acted; he hit something. The verb describes the action.
Effective communication also requires identification of the thing Tom hit.
The object that Tom hit was a ball. The object of the verb hit is the ball.

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The sky is blue.

The verb, is, conveys the state of the subject. The verb does not convey a
sense of action. The sky has a blue state. Blue is the color that
describes the sky. The word blue is an adjective in the sentence, "The
sky is blue."

One set of terms used to describe verbs is transitive and intransitive.

Transitive verbs convey a sense of action and the sentence
identifies whom or what the subject addresses.

Transitive verbs convey a sense of action and the sentence

identifies whom or what the subject addresses.

Tom kicked the ball. The verb is kicked. The verb conveys a sense of
action, and the sentence reveals what Tom kicked.

The principal punished him. The verb is punished. The verb conveys a
sense of action, and the sentence indicates whom the principal
punished.

An action verb can be transitive or it can be intransitive. Consider the

following examples.

I parked the car. The verb conveys a sense of action, and the sentence
indicates what I parked. The verb is transitive.

I parked bravely. The verb conveys a sense of action, but the sentence
indicates how I parked. The verb is intransitive.

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I parked yesterday. The verb conveys a sense of action, but the sentence
indicates when I parked. The verb is intransitive.

I parked there. The verb conveys a sense of action, but the sentence
indicates where I parked. The verb is intransitive.

Some sentences convey a complete thought utilizing only a subject and a

verb. Consider the following example.

Birds fly. The sentence constitutes a complete thought, one that must have
teased the imaginations of dreamers for centuries. "Birds fly. Why, oh
why, can't I?" The verb conveys a sense of action, but does not require
an object. The verb is intransitive because it is not necessary to relate
the subject's action to an object. Transitive verbs have objects;
intransitive verbs do not have objects.

The verb be is intransitive because the verb does not convey a sense of
action. The words is, am, are, was, were, and been are forms of the
verb be. The following sentences are composed with intransitive verbs
that convey a sense of state, do not convey a sense of action, and do
not require an object.

Thomas is slovenly.
I am hungry.
Americans are generous.
Summer was short.
The students were rowdy.
We have been there.

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Archaically, some people used the verb be to express present tense.
Example: I be going to the circus. We now use the verb am. Example:
I am going to the circus.

The following sentence causes some controversy. The sentence is correct.

Why is the sentence correct?

It is I.

The pronoun I is nominative case. The prounoun me is objective case. The

verb is, a form of the verb be, does not take an object, and therefore,
the pronoun cannot be in the objective case. Casual conversation
produces, It's me, but that is not grammatically correct.

Verbs can also convey a sense of time.

Verb tense

Verbs convey a sense of action or they convey the state of an entity. Verbs
may also convey a sense of time. They may convey a sense that an
event occurred in the past or that the event is presently occurring or that
the event will occur in the future. The spelling of the verb may change
for some of the expressions of time or auxiliary words may be required
with the verb. The organization of verbs according to sense of time
is called conjugation. The word tense means time.

We shall first explore the ways to express time utilizing the verb take for
the demonstration. The example sentences have been written in first

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 person(singular). First person is something I do. Second person is
something you do. Third person is something she does (or he). Below
are examples of the present verb tense, the past verb tense, and the
future verb tense.

I take medicine for an allergy. (present tense)

I took medicine for an allergy. (past tense)

I will take medicine for an allergy. (future tense)

Notice the spelling change for past tense and the inclusion of an auxiliary
word for future tense.

An expanded set of verb tenses is presented below. Some new grammar

terms are also presented. The new terms are potentially confusing. The
terms will be explained. However, the way we write the sentences is
more important than the verb tense terminology.

Present tense

I take medicine for an allergy. (present tense)

I do take medicine for an allergy. (present emphatic tense)

I am taking medicine for an allergy. (present progressive tense)

I have taken allergy medicine. (present perfect tense)

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I have been taking allergy medicine for several years. (present perfect
progressive tense)

Past tense

I took medicine for an allergy. (past tense

I did take medicine for an allergy. (past emphatic)

I was taking medicine for an allergy. (past progressive)

I had taken medication for sometime before the allergy season. (past
perfect)

I had been taking allergy medication, regularly, until I moved here. (past
perfect progressive)

Future tense

I shall take allergy medicine. (future tense)

I will take allergy medicine. (future emphatic)

I shall be taking medicine for an allergy. (future progressive)

I shall have taken three allergy pills by noon today. (future perfect)

I shall have been taking this allergy medicine for a year by the time the
improved product becomes available. (future perfect progressive)

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The emphatic form of the verb infers the speaker's degree of determination.
The construction of the verb changes when the emphatic form is used.
However, the sense of time does not change when the emphatic verb
form is used in place of the less emphatic form.

Emphatic tense is used in a popular ceremony.

Question: Do you take this (person) to be your lawful wedded

(spouse)?
Answer: I do. (Emphatically, I do!)

Historically, there has been a distinction between shall and will.

I shall return.

I will return. (emphatic)

The verb applications are reversed when employed in second person.

You will return.

You shall return. (emphatic)

The conventional application of shall and will is not rigorously observed in

American English at the beginning of the twenty-first century. There is
no jail time if you substitute the word will for the word shall.

NOTE: If a person is angry it is easier to pronounce will than it is to

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 pronounce shall. It is probable that an irritated parent would say:
You will clean your room before you go to the beach!

Verb tense definitions

Grammarians have noticed some subtle differences in meaning when the

expanded tense expressions are used. Those differences are identifed
below.

Present perfect tense

have done something

Present perfect sentences convey a sense that an action started in the past
and may have terminated in the past or may be continuing in the
present.

Example: I have trained for this job.

Present progressive tense

am doing something

Present progressive sentences convey a sense that a present action is

continuing.

Example: The butterflies are arriving at the rate of a thousand an hour.

Present perfect progressive tense

have been doing something

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Present perfect progressive sentences convey a sense that an action
started in the past and continues in the present.

Example: I have been learning English grammar since I arrived two

years ago.

Past perfect tense

had done something

Past perfect sentences convey a sense that an action occurred in the past
and was completed before a subsequent past action occurred.

Example: Several attempts to build the Panama Canal had failed before
the Americans completed the project.

Past progressive tense

was/were doing something

Past progressive sentences convey a sense that a past action occurred

over a span of time.

Example: The guards were sleeping while the attack occurred.

Past perfect progressive tense

had been doing something

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Past perfect progressive sentences convey a sense that a past action
started at an indefinite past time and continued until a definite past time.

Example: The peas had been growing on their own until Mendel found
them.

Future perfect tense

will have done something

Future perfect sentences convey a sense that an action will be completed

at or by a future time.

Example: By noon the doctor will have administered the vaccinations.

Future progressive tense

will be doing something

Future progressive sentences convey a sense of future continuing action.

Example: I will be coaching the soccer team next season.

Future perfect progressive tense

will have been doing something

Future perfect progressive sentences convey a sense that a continuing

future action will be completed before another future event occurs.

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 Example: I will have been teaching three years as of June 7th.

NOTE. Do not dwell on these esoteric definitions. Concentrate on using the

verbs correctly.

People once suffered from undulant fever, a debilitating disease caused by

bacteria in cow's milk. A French citizen, Louis Pasteur, developed a
process to destroy the bacteria without altering the milk. We can now
write the following sentence.

The dairy company pasteurizes the milk.

A man's name became a verb in the English language.

English verbs are derived from several languages. Consequently, the

spelling changes required for the various tense applications are not
uniform. Some examples of verb conjugation are given below. Two
terms are introduced. Present participle is a verb form that requires the
(-ing) suffix. Present participle verb forms express continuing or
incomplete action. Past participle verb forms express completed action,
but may also infer continuing action. A participle is a verb that can also
be used as an adjective.

Verb conjugation examples

present tense present participle past tense

past participle

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begin beginning began
begun
bite biting bit
bitten
break breaking broke
broken
dig digging dug
dug
draw drawing drew
drawn
fall falling fell
fallen
fly flying flew
flown
forbid forbidding forbade
*forbidden*
hit hitting hit
hit
lay laying laid
laid
lie (recline) lying lay
lain
lie (untrue) lying lied
lied
ride riding rode
ridden
run running ran
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run
set setting set
set
sit sitting sat
sat
sing singing sang
sung
speak speaking spoke
spoken
swear swearing swore
sworn
swim swimming swam
swum
wear wearing wore
worn

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